Teamsters Union Protests at Coke Meeting

By GREG WINTER

Published: April 18, 2002

Accusing the Coca-Cola Company of ''closing its eyes'' to the intimidation, torture and assassination of union workers who bottle its drinks, the Teamsters union demanded yesterday that the company adopt and enforce strict labor standards for the manufacture of its products around the world.

Standing beside a car-sized inflatable rat draped with the Coca-Cola logo in Manhattan, James P. Hoffa, the Teamsters president, accused the company of standing by and abdicating responsibility for the murder of eight union leaders who organized workers at Coke bottling plants in Colombia over the last decade, a charge the company vehemently denies.

With scores of fellow Teamsters crowding sidewalks outside Coke's annual shareholder meeting in Madison Square Garden, Mr. Hoffa asserted that workers at plants across the globe were ''routinely harassed'' by bottling companies that Coke refuses to rein in, and in some cases partly owns.

One of the nation's largest unions, the Teamsters has supported strikes overseas and in the past has pressed companies to resolve labor disputes outside the United States. But this is the first time the union has sought to negotiate a global set of labor standards, covering every country in which a corporation operates.

''We're demanding Coke take control, or we will,'' Mr. Hoffa said, leading the crowd in a chant, ''We're not going to take it anymore.''

Inside the meeting, the rally scarcely had an effect on the air of celebration. Charlie Rose was host of a virtual Academy Awards of the company's global influence, peppered with surprise appearances by Wynton Marsalis, Donald Sutherland, Jon Bon Jovi, Cal Ripken Jr. and Muhammad Ali.

Still, Coke's chief executive, Douglas N. Daft, took care to deny the accusations and assure investors that the murders had nothing to do with the company, or the many bottlers that supply it.

''Let me say briefly and quite pointedly: The claims against the company are simply not true,'' Mr. Daft said.

Not only does Coke adhere to international conventions that prohibit child labor and corporal punishment, Mr. Daft pointed out, but the company already has its own rigid principles for protecting workers, an expectation that extends to anyone who makes and bottles its drinks.

Mr. Hoffa later dismissed the company's guidelines as largely voluntary, arguing that Coke rarely enforces them by cutting off bottlers who fail to live up to its standards.

But in recent months, company officials countered, Coke has begun scrutinizing the companies that manufacture sodas in its name, in hopes of weeding out any objectionable labor practices.

''No written code is enough; it's just words on paper, we know that,'' said Deval L. Patrick, the former head of the Justice Department's civil rights division who is now Coke's general counsel. ''But we have taken the first steps, and they are important ones.''

Last July, a Colombian union sued Coke in a federal court in Miami, accusing the company and its Latin American subsidiaries of hiring paramilitary forces for the ''systematic intimidation, kidnapping, detention and murder'' of union workers in Colombia.

The suit does not directly accuse Coke executives in the United States of being involved in the plot. Instead, it contends that the actions took place ''with the advance knowledge, acquiescence or subsequent ratification'' of the company's employees in Colombia and its bottling partners whose ''business exists solely at the pleasure of Coke.''

Infuriated by the allegations, Coke executives said that instead of protecting workers from further attacks, the lawsuit might only give rise to more violence.

''It's not only false, it's reckless,'' said Rodrigo Calderon, a Coke spokesman based in Mexico. ''By alleging that Coke is associated with the paramilitaries in suppressing union activity, it puts our executives in jeopardy.''

Beyond rousing the Teamsters to demand an overhaul of the company's labor practices, the lawsuit also prompted a collection of Coke shareholders to seek new policies to protect workers. Their proposal called on the company to ensure that ''its employees are treated fairly and paid a sustainable wage wherever they work in the global economy.''

Given the company's existing policies, Coke officials described the proposal as redundant, and it was defeated at the shareholders' meeting by a margin of roughly nine to one.

Photo: James P. Hoffa, president of the Teamsters, led a protest yesterday outside the Coca-Cola Company's annual meeting in Manhattan. (Reuters)